In terms of Hot Stove baseball, the names of Leonys Martin and Mike Fiers don’t have quite the impact of Shohei Ohtani or Giancarlo Stanton, but for a franchise that has begun the process of rebuilding, they are exactly the kinds of acquisitions the Detroit Tigers should be making. Over the past week, the Tigers announced the signings of both players, each of whom will be given every chance to bolster an area of weakness. Martin, at one time a heralded prospect, figures to compete for an everyday spot in Detroit’s undermanned outfield, while Fiers will be plugged into the starting rotation, where he will try to provide the kind of quality innings that were so lacking from (the departed) Anibal Sanchez in recent years.

Both Martin and Fiers come at relatively low costs: one-year deals that will pay a total of under $8 million. Neither player performed particularly well in 2017, so it’s certainly possible that they will fizzle while wearing the Tigers colors. But each player offers the potential of something good. It wasn’t that long ago that Martin was regarded as one of the better prospects coming out of Cuba, an outfielder full of tools and promise. And in the case of Fiers, he is only one season removed from a decent season for the Houston Astros, where he won 11 games and logged 168 innings in 2016.

Let’s begin with Martin. In 2011, the Texas Rangers signed Martin, who had just defected from Cuba, knowing that he had tremendous speed and could cover plenty of ground in center field. They hoped that his offensive game would develop, but it never did—at least not in Texas. Martin struck out too much, didn’t walk enough, and basically showed little grasp of the strike zone. So after the 2015 season, the Rangers traded him to Seattle, where he showed some surprising power, hitting 15 home runs. But he also batted a mere .247, which coupled with only 44 walks, barely lifted his on-base percentage above .300.

The Mariners hoped that Martin would continue his development in 2017, but he endured an atrocious start to the season. In August, the Mariners shipped Martin to the Chicago Cubs in a cash transaction, but he batted only .154 in 15 games. The Cubs included him on the postseason roster, but used him only sparingly in the Division Series and the NLCS. At the end of the season, Martin became a free agent, leading him to sign a one-year deal with the Tigers worth $1.75 million.

Tiger outfield may be weak in center

So where does Martin fit in with the Tigers? At this point, the starting outfield projects as Mikie Mahtook in left, JaCoby Jones in center, and Nicholas Castellanos in right. Of these three, Jones is clearly the most vulnerable, having flopped badly in a 56-game looksee in 2017. The left-handed hitting Martin could easily challenge Jones in center field, either as a platoon player or as the outright starter. At the very least, Martin figures to make the Tigers as a fourth outfielder who can spell any of three starters defensively while also doing some pinch-running and pinch-hitting.

Either way, Martin’s ability to track fly balls and cover ground should make him a good fit for spacious Comerica Park. But whether he can have any kind of real impact on the Tigers will largely depend on his ability to cut down his strikeouts and lift his walk totals. He figures to do plenty of work with hitting coaches Lloyd McClendon and Phil Clark; they will try to exact some of the untapped hitting potential out of Martin, who is still only 29. It’s a longshot that Martin will ever hit enough to play every day, but it’s not an impossibility. And at under $2 million, which is a pittance in today’s game, it’s a relatively small risk for the Tigers to take.

Veteran Fiers is a #4 starter at a #4 starter price

With regard to Fiers, he will cost more money ($6 million), but that’s the price of even mediocre pitching in today’s baseball landscape. Fiers should be able to soak up some innings while they wait for Daniel Norris and Matt Boyd to turn the corner. Fiers pitched so poorly for the Astros in ’17 that they left him off their postseason roster, but he was effective enough from 2014 to 2016 to indicate that he can help. Based upon his history in Houston and Milwaukee, he should be able to throw in the vicinity of 150 to 160 innings, which will be a boon to a team that has only one returning starter (Michael Fulmer) who pitched effectively last season.

Fiers could benefit from pitching at Comerica Park, which is far friendlier to pitchers than Houston’s Minute Maid Park. He might also gain something tangible from a reunion with Chris Bosio, the Tigers’ new pitching coach. Bosio coached Fiers with Milwaukee, making him plenty familiar with the sinkerballing right-hander. Fiers generally pitched well for the Brewers, so a reconnection with Bosio could bode well for a strong performance in 2018.

The downside with Fiers is his age; he’s already 32 and will turn 33 in June. Obviously, he won’t be much of a factor by the time that the Tigers are good again, a time frame that is at least three years away. What the Tigers should hope to receive from Fiers is a strong first half, allowing him to build up his trade value. And then come the July 31st deadline, the Tigers might be able to spin him off to a contending team for a prospect or two. This is what rebuilding teams need to do: sign middle-of-the-road free agents at reasonable costs and then trade them at the peak of their value in exchange for minor league talent.

Does any of this matter?

Neither the signing of Fiers or Martin has garnered the Tigers much attention this winter. And by themselves, they won’t have much of an impact on the won-loss record next season. But if GM Al Avila is smart, he will pattern many of his wintertime transactions after these ones, as the Tigers gear up for phase one of their rebuilding plan and the start of a new era in 2018.

Comments

comments